Sedona
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Sedona
On another thread, Sedona AZ is mentioned as a difficult place to go. This tends to happen each time there is a thread about flying in the Western US.
Why?
I've been there three times, all in June, including once at night, landing on both 03 and 21, and found nothing particularly unusual about the approach or fitting in a circuit. There are no obstructions. The runway is way more than long enough for a PA28 even at AZ temperatures. Its high but, like I say, the runway is plenty long enough. I don't remember any updrafts or windshear. It wasn't even particularly busy. I was at about 75hrs total time at that point.
The only difficult thing I found was ignoring the view long enough to concentrate
This is a straight question; I'm not bragging about my exceptional flying abilities
I really just want to know what it is that makes Sedona difficult because I think I must be missing something.
Why?
I've been there three times, all in June, including once at night, landing on both 03 and 21, and found nothing particularly unusual about the approach or fitting in a circuit. There are no obstructions. The runway is way more than long enough for a PA28 even at AZ temperatures. Its high but, like I say, the runway is plenty long enough. I don't remember any updrafts or windshear. It wasn't even particularly busy. I was at about 75hrs total time at that point.
The only difficult thing I found was ignoring the view long enough to concentrate
This is a straight question; I'm not bragging about my exceptional flying abilities
I really just want to know what it is that makes Sedona difficult because I think I must be missing something.
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Nothing hard about Sedona.
In fact when you join on the 45 for 03, there is this great canyon you can fly down, which pops you out nicely to join downwind
Does get hot in the summer, and the terrain around the place is pretty high, but its also reasonably flat....flat but high, if you get my drift Not sure I'd like to make a forced landing there though.
Was in Sedona early Nov, very picture skew....
In fact when you join on the 45 for 03, there is this great canyon you can fly down, which pops you out nicely to join downwind
Does get hot in the summer, and the terrain around the place is pretty high, but its also reasonably flat....flat but high, if you get my drift
Not sure I'd like to make a forced landing there though.Was in Sedona early Nov, very picture skew....
Why do it if it's not fun?
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The only vaguely difficult thing I remember about it (after just one visit, daytime, in good VMC I should add) is that the runway has a 1.8% slope on it. My airfield guide (a few years out of date, since it's a few years since I was there) has the annotation "Nrmlly lnd rwy 3, tkff rwy 21 xcpt with S wind abv 10 kts." Since the airfield is moderately busy (not the busiest airfield around, but not absolutely dead either), this means there's a reasonable chance that as you arrive you'll meet traffic going the other way, or vice versa.
Having said that, I certainly didn't have any trouble there. I think I had a little over 100 hours when I went there. I barely noticed the slope, and talked over the r/t to traffic going the other way to ensure that there was no risk. It was only after I visited that I heard, third hand, of other schools who wouldn't let PPL hirers go there.
I wouldn't like to speculate on exactly why this is, but I agree with you 100% that it seems a little over-cautious. Personally, if a pilot wasn't capable enough to handle this field, I wouldn't think them capable enough to hire my aircraft in the first place. But if you are hiring aircraft from someone, you are obliged to follow their rules.
FFF
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Having said that, I certainly didn't have any trouble there. I think I had a little over 100 hours when I went there. I barely noticed the slope, and talked over the r/t to traffic going the other way to ensure that there was no risk. It was only after I visited that I heard, third hand, of other schools who wouldn't let PPL hirers go there.
I wouldn't like to speculate on exactly why this is, but I agree with you 100% that it seems a little over-cautious. Personally, if a pilot wasn't capable enough to handle this field, I wouldn't think them capable enough to hire my aircraft in the first place. But if you are hiring aircraft from someone, you are obliged to follow their rules.
FFF
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Nothing speficically difficult about Sedona wrt altitude/winds, you just have to be careful. Same goes for all flying really. If you haven't seen updrafts/downdrafts there you haven't visited enough. Another problem is high ground all around, and it's typical of flat-landers to underestimate performance in the mountains.
A specific problem with Sedona is people landing on 03 with people departing on 21. If you don't think that requires caution then I despair.
A specific problem with Sedona is people landing on 03 with people departing on 21. If you don't think that requires caution then I despair.
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There's a difference between something that requires caution and something that makes an airport difficult. I used caution - did the density calcs, expected strange winds, noted the possibility of opposite direction traffic etc. I just don't see that this makes it especially difficult.
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Aim Far,
I assume you are refering to the 'flying vacation in Arizona - February' thread? The word difficult doesn't occur once in there, 'careful' is used twice. What are you talking about?
I assume you are refering to the 'flying vacation in Arizona - February' thread? The word difficult doesn't occur once in there, 'careful' is used twice. What are you talking about?
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Sedona is not difficult, but care should be taken.
I met a couple of blokes in the states (one an airline captain) who were about to set off to Big bear in an Archer III 3 up, in the middle of summer when the temperature up there was 30°C.
Big Bear is not difficult, as in flying there, or landing / taking off, but the density altitude that day meant it was impossible in that aircraft, which they had sort of missed!
Not sure I'd like to fly to Sedona at night in a SE plane though, you're limited on places to land....
Cheers
I met a couple of blokes in the states (one an airline captain) who were about to set off to Big bear in an Archer III 3 up, in the middle of summer when the temperature up there was 30°C.
Big Bear is not difficult, as in flying there, or landing / taking off, but the density altitude that day meant it was impossible in that aircraft, which they had sort of missed!
Not sure I'd like to fly to Sedona at night in a SE plane though, you're limited on places to land....
Cheers
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Not sure I'd like to fly to Sedona at night in a SE plane though, you're limited on places to land....
I wouldn't worry about the SE part at night, but I'd certainly consider my approach and go in via a straight in on 03. A go-around would be something I'd like to avoid on a dark moonless night. There is a lot of high ground around there, I really don't like flying around with unlit rocks above my altitude. GPS RWY 03 approach shows a lot of rising terrain, and the MAP is not something you could easily fly in a light single. Hey, just call me a woos
I wouldn't worry about the SE part at night, but I'd certainly consider my approach and go in via a straight in on 03. A go-around would be something I'd like to avoid on a dark moonless night. There is a lot of high ground around there, I really don't like flying around with unlit rocks above my altitude. GPS RWY 03 approach shows a lot of rising terrain, and the MAP is not something you could easily fly in a light single. Hey, just call me a woos
